Area: Gran Canaria
After leaving Santa Brigida (a little too soon), I drove up to Cruz de Tejeda in weather that was even worse than yesterday - impenetrable thick mist accompanied by driving rain as I headed south to Cruz de los Llanos. Within 10 minutes of leaving the car, however, heading towards Garanon, I burst through the clouds again. This time, unlike yesterday, that was that: the rest of the day (until the last five minutes) was characterised by the most glorious imaginable weather: no wind, no cloud, no humidity, no haze, temperatures in the high teens to low 20s. From Garanon, I headed west and soon Roque Nublo came into view - a truly extraordinary feature of the landscape, a huge free standing rock monolith visible from the entire island and never less than sheer. It is a compelling objective although without a partner there was no change of getting to the actual top (and I suspect the easiest route would still be quite hard). To get there, superbly enjoyable paths, taken at a relaxed jog, led west past a reservoir to La Goleta. Fabulous views north with cloud spilling into the valleys. From La Goleta, a change of tone as dozens of tourists trekked up to Nublo. I did too, and it just gets more extraordinary until you are between the two towers. El Fraile, a free-standing pinnacle, is pretty remarkable too. They stand like plinths on top of a vast area of bare rock: it put me in mind slightly of Arches in Utah, but there are few real comparisons. I now had views north and west, and extended the day by heading south-west towards an obvious peak, Aserrador, which looked untravelled and interesting. It was, and it was actually fairly easy to leave the path and plot a satisfying route up an open dusty gully to a long, broad ridge leading to an obvious summit. Obviously rarely climbed, I had it to myself. Views down the baked western valleys were stunning, with Roque Bentayga (sacred to the indigenous Guanches) surpassed only by mighty Teide, clearly visible on Tenerife across miles of Atlantic Ocean. It was rather awkward to regain the marked path down to Hoya Vieja and I then stupidly lost it lower down, taking two daft and tiring detours before finally getting back on track and reaching the GC60. I ran east to Ayacata and had a drink at the cyclists cafe, girding my loins for a fairly brutal, relentless 500m climb back up to La Goleta. From here I retraced my steps, popping back into cold mist five minutes before reaching the car! Just a few miles away, I stopped for lunch at Cruz de Tejeda, peering out of the cafe at constant rain and mist, sitting in my coat in an unheated room while I ate my pork, aioli and chips.
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